Augusta – Alice Greer and Kevin Rannis, performers in the Jim Rose Circus, revealed that both their careers started as a result of a canceled appointment several years earlier.

‘Life is kinda funny sometimes’, started Greer, ‘Especially in hindsight I guess. Sometimes we all do stupid things, but in the end it all worked out.’

Greer and Rannis, long time friends, work for the Jim Rose Circus as the Tattoo’d Couple, with tattoo’s covering nearly 100% of their bodies.

‘The term couple is misleading’ said Greer. ‘We did actually date when we first met, but that was quite a while ago. We’re just freinds…but in showbiz you need an angle, and the couple thing seems to increase the public’s interest in us’

Rannis agreed, ‘Yeah. After the shows, if we’re doing any kind of PR stuff, people will come up to us and ask things like, ‘Dude, how’d you manage to score a babe like that’, or make comments on how wonderful love is, that two people in the world, each covered head to toe with tattoos could find each other’.

When asked how they originally met, both state it was nothing special. ‘I think it was through a bar league sports team. Of course, we didn’t have a lot of tattoos back then’, said Greer.

‘Wow, it’s just crazy thinking about things back then’, mused Greer. ‘I was a lab researcher in quantum physics and Kevin was a Political Science major just out of college. If someone would have told me that in 5 years we’d both be performing in the Jim Rose Circus I’d have thought them crazy. Just crazy. Wow.’

When asked what led them into their current careers, Rannis said, ‘It was my fault ultimately…at least in that I was the spark that lit the fire’

‘No, don’t put it all on yourself…I shouldn’t have been so stubborn either’, Greer inturrupted.

‘It was both our faults.’, Greer continued. ‘It all started when I had won a gift certificate for $1000 worth of tattoo work. The certificate was for a tattoo party – 5 people for $200 worth of work each. I asked around to see if any friends would be interested and got a group together. One of them was Kevin, of course. Now Kevin had stated that he was pretty sure he’d be able to make the consultation where each person would talk about what they wanted for their tattoo and the artist would decide if she could do it for $200. I told him that if he couldn’t make it to let me know AHEAD of time, so I could find someone else.’

‘So this is several weeks before the consultation right? Ok, move forward to the night of the consultation, I send out emails to everyone who’s going and Kevin emails me back saying he can’t make it. Oh my god, was I pissed.’

‘My fault, totally’, Rannis admitted. ‘It had been a last minute problem at work, but I knew earlier in the week that something like this might happen. I should have let her know the situation.’

‘Anyway,’ Greer continued, ‘So I am just fuming. I’m thinking what a fuck wad. It was too late to reschedule, and it was certainly too late to try and find someone else. I had about 3 hours before I had to be there and seeing how pissed I was I called one the people that was going with us tonight and had her meet me out at a bar. She had just broke up with this guy she had been dating for two years, so we were both upset. Let’s just say the drink started to flow. By the time I made it to the consultation I was completely schnockered’

‘So I’m at the consultation, I’m angry as hell still, and I’m completely wasted. So when the artists asks what I want for a Tattoo, I say, I want the words, ‘Fuck Rannis’ tattoo’d on my forehead, and I want it done tonight. At first she tried to talk me out of it, but I was way too angry, so I had it done that night.’

Rannis explains what happened next.

‘At that time we both were in some bar sports leagues…volleyball, football, etc. So the next time our team plays I see her come up and I see ‘Fuck Rannis’ on her forehead. I’m thinking, wow she’s still pissed. The thing is, I thought it was magic marker. So after the game, I try and talk to her and I say, ‘Ok, I’m sorry, please wash that off and let’s talk about it’.

Greer sighs. ‘You should have seen his face when I told him it was a tattoo, I thought he was going to literally blow up’

Rammis concurs, ‘Yeah I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t fucking believe she got that TATTOO’D to her forehead. Anyway, now I’m pissed so I leave the bar and I head over to the girl that did it. At first I’m going to go over there and bitch at her about letting Alice do this…but on the way over I just start getting more and more angry…by the time I got there, I had decided I wanted a Tattoo that said, ‘Vindictive Bitch’ on the inside of my arm, with an arrow pointing towards my elbow.’

‘That way, I can stand next to her, put my hands behind my head, and then the arrow will be pointing towards her. I’m thinking it’s genius, as unlike having it on my forhead I can keep it unseen most times. Well she didn’t think it was very funny. So she goes out and get’s another Tattoo, which basically is making fun of my manhood. Let’s just say it progresses from there.’

‘After about six months, neither of us had any room left on our bodies for new tattoos. We had both lost our jobs, and in the end we both realized we we’re being stupid. We decided we’d try and get the most offensive ones removed, or at least altered so they weren’t offensive anymore. Which pretty much sums up how we are today’, finished Rannis.

When asked how they got the job with Jim Rose, Alice replies, ‘Oh, we went to a Monster’s of Metal show a few weeks after having the tattoo alternations done. One of the freak finders saw us in the crowd and asked if we’d like to work for Jim Rose. After we talked about it, we figured it was a blessing. I mean, throughout this whole ordeal, we lost our jobs, our friends and relatives both thought we were crazy, people on the street give us wierd looks, we just felt like we were being punished. But with the Circus, we have fans, a paycheck, health care, and we get to meet all these rock stars. It’s a pretty cool gig’

‘Oh yeah’, replied Rannis. ‘I met Ozzy just the other day, seemed like a nice guy. Now, I couldn’t understand a fucking word he said to me, so I’ll never know if he was telling me to fuck off, or have a nice day, but he seemed like a nice guy.’